Until They Sail

Based on a James Michener story, UNTIL THEY SAIL tells the romantic story of four New Zealand sisters during World War II and their involvement with American soldiers. Sisters Barbara (Jean Simmons), Anne (Joan Fontaine), Delia (Piper Laurie), and Evelyn (Sandra Dee in her first movie) are lonely for male companionship. Their father and brother are killed, as is Barbara's husband, while Delia's husband, Shiner (Wally Cassell), is a prisoner of war. Each sister finds herself soon involved with an American soldier--with Delia involved with more than one. Anne, a spinster who has kept love at arm's length--finds herself in love with U.S. Marine officer Captain Richard Bates (Charles Drake), but when she becomes pregnant, he is killed before they can be married. In this tragic aftermath, Barbara and another captain, Jack Harding (Paul Newman), engage in a platonic love affair, dictated by Jack's hardened outlook on life and love. To further complicate matters, Delia asks Shiner for a divorce, a decision that results in a catastrophic event that changes all of their lives forever. Director Robert Wise's streamlined directing style, founded on his training and expertise as an editor on suchfilms as CITIZEN KANE, is in full swing in this taut, dramatic war picture.